Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has once again praised Real Madrid manager José Mourinho, who is widely expected to return to the club for a second spell in the summer, as the best manager he has ever seen in his career.

Lampard is especially close with Mourinho, and he acknowledges that it was the Portuguese who made him into one of the best midfielders in the world. Lampard recently ended speculation about his future by signing a one-year contract with the club. According to Lampard, Mourinho has an aura around him that makes him extremely special.

He is also very astute tactically, which has helped him win two Champions League medals with two different clubs. He could become the first manager in the world to lift the same title with three different teams. Mourinho is widely expected to leave Real Madrid after three years at the club. Recently, he stated that this season was the worst of his career after the club failed to win any major trophy.

Lampard was linked with every major club included in Manchester United, but he has said that he never thought about leaving Chelsea for another English club. The 34-year-old has spent the last 12 seasons at the club.

"It's a presence and an aura and a way with people. He galvanises people. His own self-confidence reflects back on his teams. He did that to me personally. Tactically he's fantastic. He's very astute. As a team he sets you up brilliantly. But what he does is he gets the best out of players and gets this togetherness that I'd never known until he came to the club and I haven't seen it again since then. He might rub people up the wrong way. [But] as a manager, he's brilliant," said Lampard in a recent interview.